The After-story: Tales from Germany
by ToxicKittySaurus
Summary: A collection of drabbles and oneshots dealing with the Elric brothers in Germany after the first anime. Updated when I get ideas. Warnings will be placed per chapter, but should usually be rated around the T region to be safe. I do accept requests.
1. Reasons

**After writing a few shorts dealing with the Elric brothers in Germany after the anime and having more ideas, I've decided to put all my current stories and future stories into one collection. Shorts won't be connected unless stated and every short will have its own warnings, ratings, and genre. I do warn you though, most shorts will deal with WWI, WWII, and might bleed into the Cold War a bit. Though you don't have to know every little detail about these events, it might be easier to follow along and understand. **

**Oh, and I do take requests if you have an idea. **

**Oh, and this isn't beta'd and won't be beat'd as it's small shorts. Don't tell me about grammar or me typing "bee" instead of "been." I honestly don't really care. **

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**Title: **_Reasons_

**Warnings:**_Sensitive subjects, might be a trigger to some._

**Genre:** _Tragedy, Angst_

**Rating: **_T (might be M to some)_

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Everyone had their reasons. Reasons why anybody would do anything.

Sometimes, they made sense.

Most times, they didn't.

Most of the German people had similar reasons for wearing the band of hatred.

Fear.

_Germany was falling in debt. A massive sea where no one can survive. The waters of economy don't care who you are, only that you, too, like everyone else, can drown in the inflation._

Anger.

_The Treaty of Versailles was supposed to end the war. And it did. Putting all the blame of the Great War on Germany. Putting debt on the war-torn country, like it had money. Like anyone in the damn world had money. No one did. The world was ruined. Torn apart by muddy trenches dug deep into the ground. By bullets peppering everything in their path. By mustard gas and others, poisoning the air with toxic fumes. By anything anyone can think of._

Things like that are reasons. Reasons for hate to spread.

A reason for blame.

_A Jewish conspiracy. It was all planned out. Those greedy bastards._

Everyone had their reasons.

And as Edward, the once great Fullmetal Alchemist slipped his own red band of hatredover his arm, he couldn't help but wonder about his own reasons. What he was doing. What hell he had decided to send himself to.

_It's all for Al. To protect him. His only family left._

Edward made a promise to get Al's body back and he did.

Because that's what older brothers do. They protect their younger siblings; no matter what.

_No matter what._

Everyone had their own reasons.

Fear.

Anger.

Hatred.

But he had his own reason as well. More or less.

To protect his brother. No matter what he had to do. He would go to hell and back to protect him.

And it looks like he was going back to hell.

But this time with a red band of racism and fear marking him.

A Swastika.

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**Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed! **


	2. Divided

**Title: **_Divided_

**Warnings: **_Might spark a few feels...hopefully_

**Genre: **_Tragedy_

**Rating: **_K+_

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"Please be safe, brother. I worry about you."

"I'll be fine, Al. I'm fine everyday. Nothing bad is going to happen."

"But what about the communists?"

"Eh. Don't really care. Not bothering me."

"_Brother._"

Al stared at his brother with large eyes, a newspaper clutched tightly in his fist. He hated that they lived in Berlin. Ever since the last war-

Al mentally shook his head. They survived the war. They survived the holocaust. They survived it all, amazingly enough. That fact alone sent both fear and something else- the feeling of survival- shoot through his veins. They did it. They had won.

Ed stared at his younger brother, a smile full of love gracing his lips. He knew that Al worried about him constantly with the destruction of the War not even twenty years ago.

"I'll be fine, Al. You trust me, right?"

Al gave his brother a small frown, yet still said, not hesitating a bit, "Of course I do, Ed. I just don't trust, well, everything that's going on."

Ed shook his head in exasperation. "Come on, Al. Don't be so paranoid. Hitler's gone and Germany's rebuilding itself. The worst is over. What could possibly happen now?"

Instead of reassuring him, Al found himself partially terrified in his brother's words. Like his brother was tempting fate.

Unable to pose a good argument, Al simply voiced a hesitant agreement.

"Well, then. I guess I should be off. I 'll be back tonight, as always, Al." Ed said, giving his brother a small kiss on his forehead, underneath his nicely trimmed gold and gray hair.

"See you, brother." Al murmured.

Ed gave Al one last wink before turning around, suitcase held tightly in hand and left, his gold and gray ponytail waving goodbye.

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Al stared up at the ugly gray wall. Night was falling, but the wall was still growing. Thick mortar bled from the space in-between bricks. Men worked on building it higher and higher, some looking like they were pulled straight off the street.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know. They're building a wall…"

"I see that. What's it for?"

"I don't know. You heard anything about it?"

"No. It wasn't in the paper either."

Al listened to the conversation half-heartedly. Like everyone else, Al was confused on why a wall had suddenly popped up from nowhere. However, unlike the chatty women next to him, Al was also horribly worried.

Ed hadn't come home yet. He should've been back hours ago. Surely a strange wall wasn't going to stop his brother from coming home. It wasn't even completed yet!

Hugging himself tightly, Al continued to watch, unable to say anything or move. This had to be a communist thing. He knew it. But what was it for? He didn't understand.

Finally, what seemed like hours but was only a few minutes, Al tore his wide-eyed gave from the wall and turned his back, making his way back home.

_Ed will come home soon. He always does. _

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_Erected in 1961, The Berlin Wall separated West and East Germany during The Cold War. Hundreds of people died trying to get over the wall to escape the German Democratic Republic. The ban on crossing the border between East and West wasn't lifted until 1989._

_The Berlin wall was finally torn down in 1990. _

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**Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it. **


	3. Worth less than the paper its printed on

**Title: **_Worth less than the paper it's printed on _

**Warnings: **_Bit of dark humor if you understand the inflation Germany went through after WWI_

**Genre: **_Humor_

**Rating: **_K+_

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"...Brother, what are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing, Al? I'm going to go buy us some bread."

"Well, yes. But where did you get the wheelbarrow?"

"I, uh, borrowed it."

Al stared disbelieving at his brother who was trying to keep the millions of marks inside the wooden cart. The slips spilled out everywhere, decorating the pavement with its worthless paper.

"Ugh. Stupid marks! It takes more to make them than what they're worth! Stupid inflation." Edward muttered.

Al sighed quietly. Even he had to admit that the mark issue was getting to be quite ridiculous. Bending down, Al scooped up some of the slips of paper and stacked it on top of the already imposing stack. Even more marks fell out.

"Just ignore it Al. Doesn't really make a difference." Edward grunted.

"Don't be silly, Ed. Of course it matters. We could use some of these to keep the fire going." Al replied, hands full of the worthless paper.

Edward barked out a laugh, something Al hadn't heard in a very, very long time. "Yeah, I guess you're right! Good idea, Al!"

Al gave his brother a wide grin, his darker golden eyes sparkling with amusement. "You go get some bread. I'll go start making a pile of fuel for the fire."

"I'll be back then, Al." Edward said as he lifted the wheelbarrow and started down the cobblestone road, marks spilling out in a grand waterfall of uselessness.

Shaking his head, Al went back inside his home. "Wait a minute..." he muttered to himself.

Al groaned and shook his head.

Edward never did answer his question about where he got the wheelbarrow.

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**Terrible ending is terrible...oh well. **

**Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed. Feel free to drop a review if you so wish. **


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